The latest map of Everything

In infrared, this is what Everything looks like. The map of the whole sky was compiled by NASA's infrared space telescope, WISE, and is made up of 560 million stars, galaxies and other objects.

The Milky Way's disk and central bulge are traced out in blue, representing infrared light with a wavelength of 3.4 micrometres, which mainly comes from stars.

The bluish blobs to the bottom right are our two largest satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, more than 150,000 light years away. Andromeda forms a small blue streak to the lower left, and the image is dotted with more distant galaxies.

Longer-wavelength radiation, coloured green and red, comes from dust clouds. Just above the galactic disk near the centre of the image is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, only 130 light years away, where new stars are forming.

Among the discoveries made by WISE are many near-Earth asteroids, as well as a new class of super-cool stars called Y-dwarfs.

That's a pretty good map. I could really get around with that. However, I think that little blue dot on the bottom should be slightly to the left, and the bright blue line running through it should be a tad brighter on the right.

John
on March 18, 2012 2:37 PM

where's the little "you are here" arrow?

Ian Tullie
on March 24, 2012 1:47 PM

Rho Ophiuchi is 131 parsecs away, which is about 427 light years away.